Any energized product in modern society is not ideally efficient. Therefore, the consumption of energy is accompanied by the emission of heat. Dissipation of heat from an energized product is a common industrial engineering consideration. Electronic products are particularly susceptible to excessive heat. Personal computers contain fans for keeping sensitive electronic parts at or near the ambient temperature by dissipating the heat by convection.
Thermally conductive polymer compounds also exist to dissipate heat by conduction. These compounds are formed into parts to serve as heat sinks, radiators, etc. and other items more traditionally made of metal. Often aluminum oxide, or more commonly called alumina, is used as an additive to a thermoplastic polymer matrix to serve as the vehicle for dissipation of heat. But alumina is a particularly abrasive material which can degrade the internal surfaces of manufacturing equipment such as compounding extruders.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,902,283 (Barber et al.) discloses thermally conductive polyamide compounds using zinc sulfide.
Polymeric articles can be prepared for use in electronic circuitry whereby integrated circuit traces via direct metallization can be made in the surfaces of the polymeric article of any shape, using a process called “laser direct structuring.” According to Ranft, et al., “LASER DIRECT STRUCTURING OF THERMALLY CONDUCTIVE POLYMERS: AN INNOVATIVE THERMAL MANAGEMENT APPROACH” (ANTEC, 2012), the laser direct structuring process (LDS) is an established technology for creating via direct metallization integrated circuit traces on three-dimensional thermoplastic parts, the so-called Molded Interconnect Devices (3D-MIDs). Starting in the late 1990s, the LDS technology started with a few commercial products in automotive and telecommunication applications. Recently, the largest market for this technology is the fabrication of integrated cell phone antennas, mostly situated in Asian countries.
Ranft et al. also report that another fast growing market and an important economical factor in the field of lighting technology is the exploding number of applications based on high brightness light emitting diodes (LEDs). Especially the improvements in luminous efficacy connected with the urgent need for energy conservation led to their increasing utilization in traffic lights, landscape and automotive lighting, and other optoelectronic applications.